As far as we can tell, Ole Miss offers a traditional, paper-based correspondence program called iStudy @ Ole Miss. We have been unable to confirm whether or not this program remains functional. The information offered below may be unreliable. Contact iStudy @ Ole Miss If you need assistance or have questions, please contact Ole Miss
California voters were probably not aware when they backtracked on the three strikes law that a new population was created. The “time tunnel generation.” Most of the three strikers that were paying the price for three offenses are now 50ish folks, who had never even heard of a cell phone when they were incarcerated, let alone an iPad, but some of these ex-offenders are making the best of a peculiar situation. The average length of time the “three strikers” spent away from society is nine years. Image courtesy eii.org
Statistics prove the determination of these misplaced baby boomers with a 2% recidivism rate. Perhaps their reentry success is the product of growing up in an industrious generation.
Most of the released inmates merely made poor decisions when they were in their teens and twenties and fell victim to a hasty legislative calamity. Now that California voters reneged on their seemingly sound choices for policies to “lock-up” the drudges of society, after decades of imprisonment the “time tunnel generation” is paying a bittersweet price for their freedom.
Some of these transformed “lifers” are using the passing of proposition 36 to their advantage. Originating from a generation of old-fashioned work ethics these ex-cons know how to make it in the real world no matter what it takes. The 50ish newly released hustlers share courageous stories of surviving in a world that has made more technological advances in the last twenty years than any other generation.
Novel reentry employment strategies range from handyman jobs to making gyros.
Spectators pressed their faces and cell phones, taking pictures through the glass windows of McDonald’s in downtown Martinez. Stephan Williams was released last winter from Contra Costa County Jail after a 19-year stint of a life sentence for his third offense, which was for stealing a car. Williams walked out of jail with only the clothes on his back. People stared at Williams as though they were looking at a cave man descending from his cave. Not only did Williams look like a cave man, but he felt like one, too. The cost of everything had hit the roof. Readjusting to society was an immense astonishment for the humble man. The Bay Area was more crowded and more ethnically diverse than it was in 1994 when Williams went to prison. The traffic and noise jolted him. In the new world, organic foods were now replacing Jack-the-Box.
St. Cloud State University’s Pathways Program for Incarcerated Students offers individuals the opportunity to earn an Associate Degree or take college courses for personal growth and development.
The Center for Continuing Studies works with the SCSU faculty to make a number of correspondence courses available. These courses cover the same content as the on campus and online versions. Students receive assignments and other course materials through the mail and communicate with faculty by mail. Please check the link below for a current list of correspondence courses available. Image courtesy stcloudstate.edu
Students can choose to pursue and Associate Degree entirely in the correspondence format. Students who choose to do so must understand that using this format lengthens the time needed to earn the degree and may involve taking correspondence courses at other institutions to fill gaps in our offerings.
Students who are admitted to the University through Pathways for Incarcerated Students become part of St. Cloud State University’s long-standing tradition of excellence and opportunity.
The Pathways Program for Incarcerated Students offers two degree options:
Montcalm Community College is located in Sidney, Michigan. The college offers correspondence courses designed specifically for prisoners. The following information is from MCC’s website: Image courtesy www.jenzabar.com
Montcalm Community College’s distance learning courses are developed by faculty using the content of their classroom courses. A guide will help students understand the course material. It also contains assignments that students must complete and submit to the instructor for evaluation and feedback. Assignments are submitted by postal mail.
Students may enroll at any time. Each course is offered on a monthly basis. New classes begin the second Monday of each month. Each correspondence course is approximately four months in duration, which can be extended as necessary.
Distance learning courses provide a highly structured method of independent study involving a tutorial relationship with a faculty member who guides student learning and monitors each student’s progress.
Studies indicate prisoners who complete educational programs while incarcerated have a significantly better chance of finding a job and staying out of prison than those who don’t. Since 1974, Ohio University’s Correctional Education has provided an opportunity for incarcerated students to study, through print-based courses, to earn college credit and/or an Ohio University degree.
Student Information Image courtesy dispatch.com
Students can request to receive information in the mail about OHIO Correctional Education. Requests can be submitted online (using the online request form on the right), by e-mail at [email protected], by phone toll free at 800.444.2420, or through the mail to Ohio University Correctional Education, 102 Haning Hall, 1 Ohio University, Athens OH 45701.
After a student is admitted to the University, he or she will receive a personalized welcome packet from the student’s academic advisor. Some of the information from the student welcome packet has been included below:
Rio Salado College offers distance learning classes for incarcerated students in printbase or mixed media formats. Incarcerated Distance Learning Schedules may be requested by calling (instate) 480-517-8345, (out-of-state) 877-517-8345, or by submitting an information request form by mail. Please remember that ADC policies must be followed and all courses must be approved through the Correctional Education Program Manager/Supervisor at each location. That person will have the correct ADC forms as well as any other ADC policies that need to be followed.
The total cost of the class will vary depending on the total number of credits the student enrolls in and price of the book/s. Other costs include an $11 course packet for each course, and a $15 one-time per semester registration fee. For information on book pricing please call Incarcerated Re-Entry @ (480) 517-8345 (in-state) or (877) 517-8345 (out-of-state).
If a student is incarcerated with the Arizona Department of Corrections, the student’s tuition and fees must be paid with a check from the student’s inmate account. If a family member or outside party is paying the educational costs (tuition, fees, registration, books) on behalf of the student, it may be paid by cash, check, money order, Visa, Mastercard, Discover or American Express card.
U.S. Department of Education Image courtesy csgjusticecenter.org
Correctional education is a fundamental component of rehabilitative programming offered in juvenile justice confinement facilities, most American prisons, and many jails and detention centers. Correctional populations are over-represented with individuals having below average levels of educational attainment—education “behind bars” presents an opportunity for the incarcerated to prepare for success upon release. A wide variety of administering entities operate correctional institutions in the United States, and a wide variety of organizations are the providers of onsite prison education programs. Various federal education programs have supported education in State and local prisons; and in 1991, an Office of Correctional Education (OCE) was created by the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act, to coordinate and improve these efforts to support educational opportunities in correctional settings. The OCE function currently resides in the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE), Division of Adult Education and Literacy (DAEL). While OCE has a unique coordinating role for correctional education, other administrative units within the Department of Education, support and oversee specific programs that are based in correctional facilities.
Federal Grant Programs – Reentry Success through Continuity of Educational Opportunities
Maj. Michael Gruver is all too familiar with the desperate howls and chilling sounds of clinking on steel bars as he makes his routine strolls down the halls of solitary confinement. Gruver, a correctional employee of the William P. Clements unit in the state of Texas oversees some of the men housed in isolation. Gruver admits working with a large mental health population can be grueling. There are a lot of mentally ill inmates at the Clements Unit.
Clements officers are qualified to deal with mentally ill inmates after completing a mere two and a half weeks of training. The main objective of the training is for equipping correctional officers to protect mentally ill inmates from harming themselves and others.
The Texas Tribune, a non-profit news organization has produced evidence from an extensive investigation of 99 Texas prisons that Texas prisons with high occurrences of violent behavior are linked to mental illness.
The research conducted for the six-year period of 2006-2012 indicates the prisons that reported the most significant numbers of violent related episodes within the walls of their facilities have significantly larger mentally ill populations. Image courtesy vtdigger.org
These troubling statistics worry Michele Deitch, prison expert at the University of Texas at Austin’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. Deitch is questioning the competency of correctional administration to effectively address mentally ill inmates and maintain security.
Deitch claims the situation is too dire to overlook.
According to Texas Department of Criminal Justice data, out of the five facilities with the highest concentration of violence-related reports, three of them are psychiatric units. The William P. Clements Unit which houses 1,800 mentally ill inmates out of an inmate population of 3,500 is one of the five facilities in the category of high-violence. The prison not only houses mentally ill inmates but it also has a wing dedicated to G-5 offenders, those considered the most dangerous. The prison has 448 cells for isolation; as of September 21, 2013, 435 of them were occupied.
By Cindy Scharr, Delaware County Daily Times CHESTER — District attorneys from Southeastern Pennsylvania on Wednesday urged state and federal lawmakers to increase funding for early education programs for at-risk children in an effort to boost high school graduation rates and reduce the prison population. “We can continue with the status quo, which is leading